A family, three generations volunteered for the military.

(Baonghean)On one occasion when I was on a business trip to Laos, while visiting the memorial site dedicated to General Kaysone Phomvihane, we were accompanied by a white-haired woman wearing the Military Merit, Combat Merit, and Glorious Soldier medals awarded by the Vietnamese State. The person in charge of the site, a Vietnamese man, introduced her as Mrs. Samanga, whose Vietnamese name is Phung Thanh Tam. In Laos, not only do many high-ranking officials today cherish her like a mother, but when they were alive, leaders like General Kaysone Phomvihane, Souphanouvong, and Phoumi... all showed great care and attention to her in her old age...

Mrs. Tam is over 80 years old, frail, and her memory is failing, but through the stories of many Vietnamese expatriates, volunteer cadres who served in Laos during the resistance war, and through documents... she learned that this is a Phung family in Vietnam with three generations of volunteer soldiers.

Going back in time to the period when the countries of the Indochinese peninsula were still enslaved by the "mother country" France, Ms. Tam's grandparents, originally from Quang Trach, Quang Binh, were a patriotic family oppressed and persecuted, forced to flee to Laos with their children to seek a living. They followed the example of figures like Tu Huong, Dang Nguyen Can, Dang Thuc Hua, Dang Thai Tan (also known as Ty, son of Dang Thai Than), Vo Tong (Lu The Hanh), Dang Van Cap, etc., who were active in the patriotic overseas Vietnamese movement. From a young age, Ms. Tam followed her parents from Laos to live with Vietnamese people in the Udon Than, Nong Ong, and Sakon regions of Siam. In these areas, from late 1928 to 1929, Mr. Thau Chin, Mr. Tho Son, Mr. Nam... (i.e., Uncle Ho) left his mark and actively participated in activities along the Mekong River. Therefore, in areas inhabited by Vietnamese expatriates, there were branches of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association leading the way, with Vietnamese and Siamese language schools for Vietnamese children, and the patriotic and revolutionary movements among Vietnamese expatriates developed very strongly.

Back then, Mrs. Tâm met Mr. Thọ - Thầu Chín many times, and he gave her the Vietnamese name Liên, while her Siamese surname was Xi-vi-lay, and assigned her to work as a liaison. Although young, she was nurtured with patriotism and revolutionary awareness from her grandfather and father, and from the "Vietnamese Overseas Mutual Aid Association" movement... She participated in activities for many years before the August Revolution, and later became an assigned cadre, returning with her husband to build bases and establish Vietnamese guerrilla units in the remote areas of Xieng Khouang province, Central Laos.

Mr. and Mrs. Phung Dai Loi, who previously worked in Laos, and whose wife was born in Vientiane, named their children Tam (meaning heart/mind), expressing their wish that wherever they lived, they would always remain devoted to their homeland and maintain their "heart/mind"! But it was her beloved father who truly lived up to the name Dai Loi, from the famous Phung family known for their patriotism and revolutionary spirit in Quang Binh; leaving behind a shining example of "heart/mind" for his descendants. He was a volunteer soldier who returned to fight and heroically sacrificed himself in the early days of the resistance against the French colonialists' return to invade the three Indochinese countries, in the Ba Na Phau area of ​​the Route 12 front in Central Laos, bordering his hometown of Quang Binh province. On that day, the Vietnamese-Lao joint armed forces had about 600 fighters. After meeting with President Ho Chi Minh, Mr. Souphanouvong was guided and accompanied by Vietnamese soldiers. Upon his return, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commander-in-Chief of the Lao armed forces, directly commanding the Vietnamese-Lao joint forces on the famous Thakhek-Savannakhet front. In the early days of the two countries' armed forces fighting side-by-side, her husband, a soldier in the volunteer army, bravely sacrificed his life like a father for the newly won independence of both countries. Also on the Central Laos front, Mr. Le Thieu Huy, son of Professor Le Thuoc, in the special unit sent to assist Souphanouvong, also perished on the Mekong River...

The resistance war against the common enemy of the Vietnamese and Lao peoples became increasingly fierce. In early 1946, the Lao-Vietnamese armed forces had to retreat to Thailand, along the Mekong River. Like her father and husband, Mrs. Tam was a volunteer soldier in the Lao-Vietnamese joint forces, having served in units such as the 13th Regiment of Ha Tinh province, the border administration of Military Region 4, and the 81st Regiment of the Upper Laos Front operating in Xieng Khouang, alongside the 80th, 82nd, and 83rd Regiments... commanded by Hoang Huu Binh from late 1945, with the headquarters located at the house of Mrs. Lang, the elder sister of Mr. Phan Trong Tue... After the new policy was implemented, withdrawing to Thailand to consolidate, she was a soldier in the volunteer army, staying close to the people, working tirelessly to carry out armed activities, propaganda, and build revolutionary bases and armed forces throughout the years 1947-1948. At that time, Comrade Kaysone Phomvihane was the team leader of the Northern Lao propaganda team, and Comrade Thao Hanh, a Vietnamese expatriate, was the deputy team leader (who later died in action). They worked hard in Upper Laos and Northwest Vietnam. Afterwards, she returned to work as a "nanny" and teacher for the children of Lao cadres in the Northwest war zone, teaching both Lao and Vietnamese...

The resistance struggle between the Vietnamese and Lao peoples achieved increasingly more victories. During the Upper Laos campaign of 1953-1954, as a Vietnamese expatriate fluent in the Hmong language and familiar with local customs and geography, she served in Vietnamese volunteer units such as the 66th Regiment of the 304th Division, and later the 316th Division, which assisted Laos in reconnaissance, base building, and counter-insurgency operations. At that time, the 316th Division, commanded by Vu Lap, led the volunteer forces in liberating Phong-sa-ly, Muong Et, and Ca Nua. After the victory at Dien Bien Phu, she regrouped in the newly established 335th Border Guard Brigade, replacing the 316th Division that had gone to assist Laos. She then served in cultural education schools for the children of Lao officials for nearly another ten years. Therefore, many of your senior officials, who were once her "adopted children," and her students still call her mother, showing great care and attention to their "adoptive mother" in her old age. She was awarded many prestigious medals and decorations by the Party and State of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. While she was alive, Uncle Kaysone often instructed officials to pay attention to her health in her old age...

Many of the children of Lao officials whom she cared for back then have now grown up to be high-ranking leaders... so they hold her in high regard. Furthermore, all three of her sons were also volunteer soldiers like their mother, bravely fighting and sacrificing their lives on the western fronts of Vientiane, Savannakhet, and western Quang Binh for the independence of both nations. Her daughter, Ly, was also a volunteer soldier who later became a military doctor and is now retired. Due to old age and declining health, Mrs. Tam lives with her daughter and grandchildren in Vientiane.

Tran Thi Hoat (Collaborator)